NATHAN DEAL

Politicians and family members are remembering Georgia Republican Sen. Johnny Isakson's ability to build consensus and win friends.

The rewards of an early Donald Trump endorsement were on display Saturday evening in Georgia.

Georgia's well-known voting rights advocate, Stacey Abrams, is taking a carefully balanced approach in response to new laws many people have said are an attempt by Republicans to suppress votes by people of color.

A controversial new election law may help Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp rebuild his relationship with a broad swath of Republicans as he prepares to run for a second term next year.

Liberal activists are stepping up calls on corporate America to denounce Republican efforts to tighten state voting laws.

In 2016, Ducey signed into law measures expanding the number of seats on the Arizona state Supreme Court. It's a tactic the GOP already has employed in recent years with state supreme courts when they have controlled all levers of state political power. Yet Ducey signed a bill that did just that at the state level in 2016, expanding the Arizona Supreme Court from five seats to seven. No state supreme court justice has ever lost a retention election. Nathan Deal signed similar legislation expanding that state's supreme court from seven to nine seats.

COLUMBIA, S.C. With one stroke, President Donald Trumps abrupt reversal on offshore drilling this week has loosened a political vise that was tightening around three Republicans senators running for reelection in coastal states where drilling is widely opposed. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina and Kelly Loeffler and David Perdue of Georgia, all Democratic targets. Brian Kemp, another Trump ally, and his Republican predecessor, Nathan Deal, have opposed drilling off the state's 100-mile (160 km) coast. The decision by President Trump to include South Carolina meets the desires of our coastal communities and states leadership, Graham said. I very much appreciate President Trump for listening to our state and delivering for our people.___Ben Nadler in Atlanta contributed to this report.

Neither public rivals nor personal friends, Bottoms and Stacey Abrams spent years climbing parallel ladders from nearby outposts at Atlanta City Hall and the Georgia Capitol. Now the Atlanta mayor and the former Georgia governor candidate find themselves at the same political intersection on Joe Biden's list of potential running mates. Bottoms, the 50-year-old Atlanta mayor, is a top surrogate for Joe Biden, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee. Now, the pair occupy the same political intersection: Bidens list of potential running mates. Bottoms, conversely, had the backing of outgoing Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed, himself once viewed as a potential governor.

Georgia Governor to decide if guns are allowed in churches and bars A Georgia guns rights bill will expand the right to carry a gun into a church, bar or airport if approved. House bill 60 passed in the house and senate add sits on Governor Nathan Deal's desk to be signed into law.